


Noble and Self-Sacrificing, For Once

by Jestana



Series: Gender Changing Dwarves [4]
Category: The Hobbit (Jackson Movies), The Hobbit - All Media Types, The Hobbit - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Alternate Universe - Gender Changing, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-27
Updated: 2014-01-27
Packaged: 2018-01-10 04:52:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,040
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1155315
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jestana/pseuds/Jestana
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bofur is unhappy for once.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Noble and Self-Sacrificing, For Once

**Author's Note:**

> My sister asked if anyone had written gender-changing Dwarves. That planted a seed in my head and resulted in several pages of headcanon. I was trying to work on another story and Nori threw the plotbunny for this at me. So blame him. No beta.

"Bofur, are you all right?" Bilbo sat down beside his friend, very concerned for him.

The toymaker managed a ghost of his usual grin. "Yes, I'm fine. How are things with you and our noble king?"

"He-- she hasn't been crowned yet," Bilbo reminded him, still having to make a conscious effort to refer to Thorin as a 'she', though he was determined to get better at it. "She doesn't like being called by her title right now."

A soft chuckle greeted this news. "She's always insisted on being called Princess, ever since Thráin disappeared. Said we had no proof that he was dead."

"Now we do." Bilbo stirred his spoon in his soup. In an effort to change the topic and cheer them up, he decided to ask a question that had been bothering him. "From what you and the others have said, Thráin preferred to be male, yes?"

Bofur nodded, his hat waggling a little on his head. "Aye, he was built a lot like Dwalin, y'know: tall and broad and muscular. 'Cept he liked bein' a 'he', if you catch my drift."

"I do, yes." Bilbo nodded in reply. "What puzzles me is that Thorin calls him 'Amad' sometimes. That's what Fíli and Kíli use for Dís. I though it meant mother?"

The dwarf chuckled again. "It does mean mother, as in the one who bore them. It's the most sacred craft we dwarves perform and it's up to the couple in question to determine which of them will bear their children. It's not always the female-inclined of the couple, if there even is one."

"What do you mean?" Bilbo was fascinated. Part of him wondered if he might have had any brothers or sisters if his father could have had children as well as his mother.

Bofur shrugged, pushing his spoon around in his bowl of soup. "Well, Thráin and Frís, Thorin's Adad, were both male-inclined. Naturally, since Thráin was a Prince, he needed to have heirs, so they would have to choose who would bear their children. Their size difference wasn't the same as Dwalin and Ori's, if I remember correctly, but pregnancy would have been harder on Frís, so Thráin bore their children."

"So a more accurate translation of 'Amad' would be bearer?" Bilbo wanted to be sure he understood correctly. "And 'Adad' is sire?"

Another shrug. "You could say that, though naturally we prefer that outsiders don't know that. It's why we generally translate them as Mother and Father instead."

He nodded, finishing his soup with a satisfied sigh. That's when he noticed that Bofur's bowl was still mostly-full. "You Dwarves enjoy your food as much as Hobbits. What's wrong?"

"Nothing." Bofur shook his head. "Just don't have much of an appetite."

Bilbo caught his sleeve when he would have left. "There are two reasons that a Hobbit would lose his appetite and I suspect it's the same for Dwarves. You're either sick or something's upset you. If it's sickness, you should go see Óin. If you're upset about something, it helps to talk with a friend."

"I don't want to be a bother." Bofur wavered, not yet sitting back down, but making no move to pull away and leave.

He rolled his eyes with an exasperated sigh. "Part of friendship is listening to each other's problems. I might not be able to help you, but sometimes just having someone sit and listen helps immensely."

"Thanks, Bilbo." Bofur smiled weakly and sat back down, leaning forward to relate the cause of his upset in a quiet voice: "Nori broke things off with me."

Of all the things Bilbo had expected to hear, _that_ wasn't one of them. "He did _what_?"

"You heard me." Bofur actually looked angry for once.

Flailing for something to say, Bilbo asked, "Why?"

"He didn't say. Just said it was over and walked away." Bofur shrugged and sat back.

Bilbo couldn't believe it. He'd watched Bofur and Nori together and they just _fit_ together. They weren't lovey-dovey like Dwalin and Ori. They were _comfortable_ , the way his parents had been. He shook his head. "I'm going to talk to him."

"Don't, Bilbo." This time, it was Bofur who caught Bilbo's sleeve when he would have left. "Maybe I'm not his One."

He stared down at Bofur. "Are you sure?"

"I'm sure."

* * *

"You're an idiot, you know," Ori told Nori, watching his brother watch Bofur and Bilbo.

Nori gave him a half-hearted glare. "I know what I'm doing, baby brother."

"Who's acting like a baby here?" he demanded. "Just because you don't want him to get hurt because of your work--"

Without looking up from his food, Nori gave him the sign for _shut up_.

"I won't." Ori folded his arms across his chest. "Do you think Thorin's going to give up Bilbo just because he'll be in danger as her consort?"

Nori gestured again, his mouth full: _Not the same. He'll have a guard. Bofur won't._

"Bofur's also more than capable of defending himself." Ori rolled his eyes. His brother could be so stubborn sometimes!

Glaring, Nori swallowed his food. "He should find someone else, someone who won't need to disappear for weeks or months at a time. Someone who can make him happy."

"In case you hadn't noticed, he's not happy now." Ori could see that for himself and he was quite sure Nori could, too. "I doubt he will be again unless you go to him and tell him how stupid you were to break things off in the first place and could he _please_ take you back."

Nori stood up then, still glaring. "I haven't needed Dori to tell me what to do all this time and I certainly don't need _you_ to, either."

"Maybe you do," Ori muttered, watching his brother stalk off.

* * *

"He won't budge. For once in his life, he's trying to be noble and self-sacrificing."

"Bloody, stubborn dwarves."

"Hey!"

"Sorry, Ori, but you know what I mean."

"Sadly, I do."

"Do you think there's anything we can do?"

"Not unless we can talk my brother into realizing that being happy with Bofur is worth the risk."

"Good luck."

"We'll just have to wait and see if they can sort it out themselves."


End file.
